Rapper Jay-Z says he's moving forward on his deal with Barneys despite the allegations of racial profiling at the luxury store

The rapper from Brooklyn will sell his clothing line with a stipulation that he must be appointed a leader of a council created to sort out racial profiling at the high-profile department store.

Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter released a statement on Friday addressing the situation and his position. It read in part:

"The easy position would have been to walk away and leave policy making to others, hoping that someone addresses the problem. I will not leave the outcome to others. I will take this into my own hands with full power to recommend, review, and revise policies and guidelines moving forward. I am choosing to take this head on."

Jay-Z said that all of the proceeds from sales of his product line at Barneys will go to his foundation. Additionally, "the foundation will receive 10% of all retail sales from Barneys New York stores nationwide and Barneys.com on Nov. 20."

The racial profiling issue at Barneys stems from when a 19-year-old City College student, Trayvon Christian, said the luxury retailer and police targeted him back in April because they didn't think he could afford a $349 Ferragamo belt.

Christian said he had just been paid from his work-study job when he went to Barneys to purchase the belt in April 2013.

According to Christian's attorney, Michael Palillo, that after buying the belt using his Chase debit card, Christian was stopped less than a block from the store by undercover NYPD detectives.

Palillo said the officers told Christian they had received a call from Barneys telling them that the debit card he used to buy the belt was fraudulent.

Palillo said Christian was then handcuffed and taken to a police precinct where he was held for two hours. He was released after his bank verified his account and debit card.

Christian, who later returned the belt to the store, has filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages, claiming the incident has caused him great physical and mental distress.

Another shopper, 21-year-old Kayla Phillips, has filed a complaint with the city's police watchdog agency, claiming she had a similar experience at Barneys after buying a $2,500 Celine handbag in February.

Ms. Phillips told the New York Daily News and the New York Post she was surrounded by police officers after leaving the store. She said they demanded to know why she used a debit card without a name on it.

Phillips, of Brooklyn, explained it was a temporary card, and after showing police identification and a new debit card that had arrived in the mail that morning, they let her go.

WATCH GRANDMASTER CAZ VIDEO

Grandmaster Caz, a pioneering hip-hop MC and DJ, proudly took credit for spawning Rakim and Big Daddy Kane and by extension all the Jay-Zs (rappers who came later and benefited by the pioneers).

When asked by Cristina who he came to see perform and touch the stage, Caz responded, "Of course the god Rakim and my son, Big Daddy Kane. Alright, those are my direct influences, (my influences) go to straight to them, you know what I mean. They are the people who eventually led to the Jay-Zs and when you follow the rap lineages, it all traces back to me."

Hot 97’s Summer Jam XX Recap

On Sunday, June 2, I witnessed my first HOT 97 Summer Jam and please believe me when I say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Along the 2-mile walk from where the Port Authority bus dropped me off in MetLife Stadium to the press entrance, I walked past a huge parade filled with people from all types of backgrounds.

Hip-hop heads gathered as one in the parking lot, celebrating like it was a major summer holiday--tailgating and barbecuing food; they were really getting ready for a great night.

Summer Jam was too good on paper. It gave us good music and a decent show, but it felt too much like a high school performance—safe, organized and fluent. Don't get me wrong, safety and organization are great attributes for a concert, particularly one the size of Hot 97 Summer Jam. However, we all wanted to see more than the ordinary production; i.e., last-minute surprises and performances outside the box.

It was evident that some fans left Summer Jam XX disappointed and here are 10 reasons why:

1. Joe Budden did a great job kicking off Summer Jam, but bringing out Tank was the highlight of his performance. (Not really a disappointment about Tank, I just love Tank.)

Joe Budden

2. Miguel performed a relevant performance by bringing out Mariah Carey and J. Cole, but I wanted him to do more like jumping into the crowd to make up for the 2013 Billboard Awards.

Miguel

J-Cole

3. Chris Brown's performance was way too long. Although he electrified some of the women in the audience, he shifted the momentum of the crowd starting off his set with Beautiful People. That was a huge mistake! Summer Jam equals Hip Hop, not Pop. We wanted to hear Look At Me Now first. He could've preserved his opening act for the BET Awards coming up in a few weeks. Breezy's vocals were on point though, but he should've just gone before Miguel.

Chris-Brown

4. There was the 'almost' highlight of the night when Fabolous brought Lil Kim onto the stage. At the end of the duo's performance, Fab appeared to have been introducing another female artist, who many rumored to be Foxy Brown, but didn't. Ebro of Hot 97 claimed that Foxy showed up late, while other bloggers said she couldn't find her earpiece. Nonetheless, Foxy should've been on that stage!!!!!

Lil-Kim and Fabolous

5. Now on to Nicki Minaj. 2 Chainz's performance with Nicki Minaj was way too short. First off, Nicki skipped out on Summer Jam last year, so why not SHUT the stage down this year with a song of your own? Nicki--How can you come out for 1.5 minutes, then just bounce like that?

Nikki-Minaj and 2-Chainz 

6. Okay, back to Foxy. All night, Hot 97's DJ's and personalities were teasing who was backstage. Rosenberg alluded to the fact that women were going to dominate Summer Jam, but that never happened. 

I may have been the only one daydreaming, but I was hoping Foxy, Lil Kim and Nicki would all be on the stage at one time. I'm still dreaming....

7. Kendrick Lamar was by far the best performer at Summer Stage, but he should've brought out Jay-Z. When word got around that Beyonce and Jay-Z were in the building, everyone was pretty much convinced that the royal couple was going to hit the stage. Well, that didn't happen either. Seriously, this was the 20th anniversary of Summer Jam, Hov could have rapped his verse to B**** Don't Kill My Vibe?

Kendrick-Lamar

8. Everyone seemed to have been upset that Papoose took the stage, but he was actually the highlight of the night. I don't know why he felt the need to say "Free Remy Ma," because no one cared.

9. I respect WuTang for their contributions to hip-hop, but for the generation that I witnessed in the crowd, they seemed far less interested. I think they would've been a better closing act.

Wu-Tang 1 resized 500x333

10. French Montana, the headliner of Summer Jam closed out the five-hour concert and was probably on stage for less than ten minutes (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was brief.) The highlight of his set was when fellow rap artists Rick Ross and Lil Wayne ran out and performed the hit single, Pop That. The crowd went crazy, of course. But moments later, the lights came on and Summer Jam was over, just like that. Fans exited the stadium in a somber mood, and so did I. Personally, I rode the bus home still wishing that Foxy and Jay would've graced the stage. Maybe it's just the Brooklyn sentimentality in me.

French Montana, Lil-Wayne, and Rick-Ross

But, until next time...

VIDEO: Victor Cruz is excited to see Jay-Z’s concert at the opening of the Barclays Center and to see all that the new arena in Brooklyn has to offer

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz spoke with What's The 411 co-host Barbara Bullard on the red carpet at the opening of the Barclays Center on September 28, 2012.

Cruz came to the grand opening of the Barclays Center to see rapper and business mogul, Jay-Z, perform, and to check out the new sports and entertainment arena.

Damon Dash talks about what it takes to manage recording artists, benefits of owning his own record company, and more

What's The 411 producer Ruth J. Morrison caught up with entrepreneur and music producer Damon Dash at a Fashion Arts Xchange (FAX) event held at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), in which he and the phenomenal photographer Gordon Parks were honored.

Dash talked with What’s The 411 about his early days as a manager for a hip-hop group, Original Flava, the reason he started his own record company; Dash Films; and Dash Digital.

Dash also reminded us that a little-known rapper by the name of Jay-Z dropped a few rhymes on Original Flava's single, Can I Get Open.